Help me understand...

[sjat24]

Memory and hard drive??

I am not very good at explaining things and especially in computer language but I'll try my best.

OK I have 512MB Memory and something like 38.29GB on my hardrive. Ok so now my hard drive is now at 4.48GB left (0%) what is gonna happen, am I out of space or something. At first I thought I am out of memory but I was checking my systme information and it says 232MB used, so I cant be out of memory right? I just dont understand what does memory hold and what does my hard drive hold and now that I am almost of hard drive (i think) whatas gonna happen, what should I do??
Thanks
(did I explain my question well enough?)
Shanna

[zipulrich]

Hi & welcome.
Basically, you don't "run out of" memory. What you've got is what you've got. Using lots of it is fine - that's what it's there for. Data gets flushed out of your memory whenever you shut your computer down. Simple explanation, but it'll do.
Your hard drive does get filled up over time. That's what holds all your 'stuff'. You can always pick up another hard drive and simply add it to the one you've got, as additional storage. More space to hold your 'stuff'. First, though, why not clean up the drive you've got. Start with a nice program like CrapCleaner <---click here. After you clean things up, run Disk Defrag. Then reboot and see how much hard drive space you've regained.

[sjat24]

Thanks for explaining.
If I run disk defrag is that gonna clean out everything I have on there such as my software etc? (from what a heard)
Another question...image such as jpg,gif etc are they saved on the hard drive as well or does that just take up memory...?

[zipulrich]

If I run disk defrag is that gonna clean out everything I have on there...?

Nope. Won't clean anything, simply moves things around to make your hard drive faster/more efficient. Good to do every once in awhile.

image such as jpg,gif etc are they saved on the hard drive as well or does that just take up memory...?

Yep, they're saved on your drive. They don't use memory per se.

[Greggie Boy]

Disk defrag is like haveing your own personal maid to pick up after you and put it all back in the proper place for the next time you need it. If you havn't defrageed before, it may take quite a while the first time. I'd suggest letting it run overnight for your first defrag.
I'm pretty new to this stuff too, and won't be offended in the least if someone corrects/clarifies my post or explains it better..

[Samuel]

Originally Posted by Greggie Boy

Disk defrag is like haveing your own personal maid to pick up after you and put it all back in the proper place for the next time you need it. If you havn't defrageed before, it may take quite a while the first time. I'd suggest letting it run overnight for your first defrag.
I'm pretty new to this stuff too, and won't be offended in the least if someone corrects/clarifies my post or explains it better..

Your explanation was good. I don't pretend to know everything about computers, but in simple terms:

Hard disk/Hard drive = Long term storage.

Memory/RAM = Short term storage (if you turn the computer off)

Defragmenting is like having your socks in a draw as opposed to all over the floor. When you need them, you know exactly where they are, and so retrieving them is far less time consuming.

[Rich M]

Another thing you can do is limit the system restore which will use up to 12% of your hard drive space by default. Right click My Computer, choose properties, and then System Restore.Ope3n settings and move slider down to 5% which should give you an immediate boost.
Also please be careful with Crap Cleaner. That is not the safest product and can hose your system. I suggest a trial of a program called Space Ace IV...which you can use unadjustably for a while but the default setting is as safe as "milk". http://www.rblevin.net/SAN_Index.htm
I have been using this for years and it never hosed anything!!!

[Rich M]

By the way why not consider adding an externaol hard drive toi usb or firewire so you can move some files and data over to save space as well. If your unit does not take usb 2.0 then I would suggest firewire (1394) where you probably need a pci adapter card and drive, but a usb drive onb 1.1 usb can be brutally slow.